Bout with Harris is ‘personal’ for Slice
Onetime friends looking to settle an old score only way they know
On Tuesday, Kevin Ferguson stepped gingerly into a cage at the O-Athletik gym on North Shepherd with an unmistakable and steely resolve in his eyes.
Ferguson, who became famous a decade ago as the bald, bearded and fierce Miami bare-knuckle brawler Kimbo Slice, is set to face Dhafir “Dada 5000” Harris in the co-featured bout of Friday night’s Bellator 149 fight card at Toyota Center. The headlining bout features Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, old enemies who first fought at the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Nov. 12, 1993, squaring off for the third time.
Fighting words now
Slice and Harris have a history. The pair were once friends, and Harris served as Slice’s bodyguard and matchmaker, finding and setting up the kind of illegal street fights in boat yards and backyards that, once uploaded to the fledgling YouTube video service, catapulted Slice to worldwide notice.
But somewhere along the way, things turned sour. Slice said he never saw it coming; one day he and Harris were friends, and the next day Harris was blasting him on video and social media, claiming that Slice and his crew were trying to hold him down.
On Friday night, Slice will find himself locked in the cage with his tormentor, or perhaps it will be the other way around. Since his entrance into the sport, Slice has been mocked as something of an inexperienced mixed martial artist — a brawler with no other skills who was brought into the UFC as a sideshow and then summarily drummed out by other, better fighters.
But for years, Slice has trained with the American Top Team organization in Florida — one of the top gyms in the sport. He will step into the cage with Harris a decided favorite, both in terms of popularity and overall skill. Harris has won both of his professional mixed martial arts bouts, but he is highly unskilled even in the unscientific art of street fighting. Slice, by any measure, is light years beyond what Harris is capable of.
Still, do not expect Slice to step into the Bellator cage looking for a submission. Although he usually prefers to take a professional approach to mixed martial arts, Slice has been angered by the way Harris has approached this fight. During his Tuesday open workout in front of the media, Slice’s punches packed extra pop, and he showed a level of focus and determination not seen by many in quite a while.
“It’s personal. I’m going to exploit my ability to end his career,” Slice said. “I could choke him out. I really could. But I’m going to really try to break his jaw. I’ve got my target set on that.”
All of this may seem like a sideshow, especially to those weaned on the more sports-centric UFC. Since taking over the reins of Bellator, longtime promoter Scott Coker has attempted to create a unique niche for the promotion, because competing with the UFC on its own terms is a great way to lose money without really going anywhere.
Instead, Coker anchors his “tent pole” events with stars like Slice and former UFC veterans Tito Ortiz, Shamrock and Gracie. On Friday, he will add another element of star power to the Spike TV broadcast: Former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson will join the commentary team.
Rivalry sells tickets
And while the rivalry between Slice and Harris may appear ridiculous to dedicated mixed martial arts fans, it is the kind of thing that brings in what Coker and Bellator are looking for: eyeballs and television ratings. And for Slice, it is a chance to settle a personal rivalry with an old friend turned new enemy in the only way he knows how.
“This is how we get to the bottom of it,” Slice said. “This is how we do it. There’s no sitting down over a glass of wine and dinner.”